Erasing shield



June 16, 1953 s. FELBER 2,642,172

ERASING SHIELD Filed Oct. 10, 1951 Snnentor idney Elbe! Gttomeg PatentedJune 16, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,642,172 ERASING SHIELDSidney Felber, New York, N. Y.

Application October 10, 1951, Serial No. 250,633

14 Claims.

This invention relates to erasing shields for use with a typewriterroller platen and particularly to that type mounted for easyaccessibility on the typewriter and designed for insertion between thesheets being typed to prevent smudges on the carbon copies duringerasing operations.

The invention contemplates the provision of a thin substantially rigidshield of relatively small area adapted to be slidably and swingablymounted on the roller-carrying pivoted paperhold-down bar whichremovably clampsthe paper sheets to the platen, whereby the shield maybe readily adjusted along the bar longitudinally of the carriage of thetypewriter to any point of the sheet where an erasure is to be made, theshield being insertable between any sheet and the succeeding carbonsheet, and being easily swingable to an inoperative position out of theway of the typist during the typing operation and also moving as a unitwith the bar when said bar is manipulated.

The invention further contemplates the provision of an erasing shieldwhich may form a permanent part of the typewriter if desired or may bemade of such form as to be quickly and easily attached to the paperclamping bar and detached therefrom, the shield being slidablelengthwise of and rotating on the bar when mounted thereon.

The various objects of the invention will be clear from the descriptionwhich follows and from the drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a fragmentaryperspective view of the platen and the swingable paper-hold-down bar ofa typical typewriter, showing the erasing shield out of the Way at theleft hand end of the platen and swung down on the platen ready to bemoved to the right into an operative erasing position.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of the platen, hold-downbar and the erasing shield, showing in dash-dot lines, the shield swungupwardly ofi the platen while the bar is down, and showing also indash-dot lines, the inoperative swung back position of the bar with theshield thereon as when paper sheets are to be inserted into thetypewriter, or the sheets are to be separated preparatory to an erasure.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view, similar to Fig. 2, ofthe platen, bar and shield showing three paper sheets positioned aroundthe platen and the sheet which bears the original or ribbon typewritingarranged in erasing position outside of the shield, the shield beingshown 2 in erasing position between the first sheet and the carbonsheet.

Fig. 4 is a front elevational view of the platen and its hold-down barshowing the paper clamping rollers on the bar and a pair of erasingshields mounted according to the invention, one between the rollers, andanother outside of the rollers and of a slightly modified form.

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view of the bar and of a detachablesnap-on shield mounted by a resilient loop on the bar for sliding and.rotating movements.

Fig. 6 is a similar view of a slightly modified form of the snap-onshield.

In the practical embodiment of the invention shown by way of example,the erasing shield is mounted on the typical paper-hold-down bar ll! ofa typewriter, the bar being of the usual type extending substantiallythroughout the length. of the roller platen II. An arm 12 extendsrea-rwardly from each end of the bar, the rear end l3 of each arm beingsuitably pivoted as at M to a suitable fixed bracket i5 for swingingmovement thereby to carry the bar Hi close to the platen or to aninoperative position above and to the rear of the platen as best seen inFig, 2. Usually, a spring as its maintains the bar Ill in either one ofthe two extreme positions thereof shown, the bar and its pivotal supportbeing of the usual type and typical of those in present use on a numberof makes of typewriters. Slidably and rotatably mounted on the bar [0are the usual rubber rollers l7 and 18 adapted to press the paper andcarbon sheets [9, 20 and 2| or the like down on the platen whilepermitting the sheets to be fed through the typewriter on manualrotation of the platen in the usual manner.

In accordance with the invention, the bar H3 is utilized as the carrierand support for the erasing shield, one form of which is shown as 22 inFigs. 2 and 3. Said shield, while thin, is relatively rigid, being madeof sheet metal, plastic, fiber, composition or any other suitablematerial, the body portion 23 thereof being convex outwardly orcylindrical to conform to the cylindrical shape of the platen l I. Inthat form of the invention wherein the body portion 23 is arranged lowerthan the bar IQ during the erasing operation as shown, said portion fitsthe platen when the shield is down. But where erasures near the bottomof a sheet may be relatively frequent, the body portion 23 is madeconvex outwardly when the shield is in an up position or swung above thebar Hi. In the aces, 172

latter case, the shield may normally remain in such up position at alltimes during the typing as well as during the erasing operations. On theunmutilated or lower edge of the shield as 24, is normally inscribed ascale as 25 preferably in inches and fractions thereof for the purposelater to be described, a similar scale 25 being inscribed on theopposite face of the shield 35 near one edge thereof as shown by thedash.- dot lines of Fig. 4, or on the edge adjacent to and between thetwo loops 21b of the right hand shield 36, in a manner not shown but aswill now be obvious.

The shield 22 of Figs. 2 and 3 is bent along its upper edge portionaround the bar In to form a substantially closed loop 2'! embracing thebarand permanently securing the shield to the bar against removal whilepermitting sliding and rotative movement of the shield relatively-to thebar, the loop being sufiiciently loose on the bar for that purpose. Toconnect the loop to the body portion 23, the connecting portion. 28 isarranged substantially perpendicularly to said .body portion andintegrally joins the body portion to the loop. The loop 2i may extendalong the entire upper edge of the shield as shown by the loop 21a ofthe shield 35 of Fig. 4, or it may be interrupted and the mid portionthereof omitted to form the two spaced loops 21?) shown in Fig. l and onthe right hand shield 36 of Fig. l,

It will be understood that the length of the shield is a minor fractionof the length of the bar ID or platen l I and hence is intended to slidealong the bar to the point where the erasure is to be made. To avoidinterference with the paper clamping rollers ll and it which also aremounted on and slide along the bar and to minimize the movement of saidrollers, I prefer to mount one shield as 35 between the roller 11 andthe left end of the bar as viewed in Fig. 4, said shield occupying thespace usually provided adjacent the left margin on the typed sheet, andbeing moved to the right up to the roller H, or with said roller ifnecessary, to the point where erasure is to take place. A second shield36, may if desired, be mounted on the bar between the rollers I7 and I8and can readily slide between them, so that the entire typed line iseasily reached by one or the other of theshields with little need forshifting either roller.

Both of the shields may be permanently se cured to the bar as by theclosed loops 2'! thereof, or one or both may be detachably mounted onthe bar, the detachable mounting of the shield necessitating only aslight change in the form of I the loops 2?. One shield may be convexoutwardly when in a down position for ordinary erasures, and the otherconvex outwardly when in an up position for erasures near the bottom .4detached from the bar by a twisting movement in a manner which will nowbe obvious.

In the form of the spring loop or loops shown in Fig. 6, theperpendicular connecting part 28 is omitted and the body part 23integrally connected and continued into the spring loop 33, whichterminates in the flared part 34, and which loop is quite similar to theloop 30 already described. The loop 33 is snapped on to the bar 10 inthe same manner as the loop 30 and is similarly detached from the bar bya twisting movement. It will be understood that the loops 21a or 211) ofeither of the shields 35 or 36 of Fig. 4 may be -resilient open loops topermit either shield to be shield or smaller spaced loops along saidedge and that the spring loop if used, may take the of a sheet. As shownin Fig. 5, the resilient open loop 30 subtends an angle of approximately270 or somewhat more than 180 leaving an open space 32 between theoutwardly flared edge part 3| of the loop and the adjacent connectingpart 28 of the shield. Said space is of lesser width l form of either ofthe loops 30 or 33.

A line, mark or indication 31 at the middle of the bar [0 (Fig. 4) markssaid middle, so that the shield 36 may be moved to measure the distanceon each side of said middle point by means of the scales thereon,thereby to indicate the left hand point at which the carriage is to beset to start the typing in order to center a certain typed linesymmetrically on the sheet as when typing titles, headings or othersymmetrically arranged matter on covers, reports or other documents.

Normally, the shield, whether it is of the permanently attached ordismountable type and whether it is convex outwardly when up or whendown, is swung upwardly from the position of Fig. 1 and from the fullline positions of the other figures of the drawing into the dash-dotline position of the shield 35 of Fig. 4 or into the dash-dot lineposition of Fig. 2, whereby the shield, whether for ordinary erasures orfor erasures at'the bottom of the sheet, is out of the way of the typeand the Writing is easily read in the usual manner. When an ordinaryerasure is to be made, the bar is swung rearwardly about the pivot l4,carrying the shield or shields therewith as a unit into the dash-dotline positions shown for the bar, the arms and the-shield in Fig. 2. Theclamping rollers IT and I8 are thereby lifted off the sheets 19, 20 and2|, and the sheets freed for manipulation. If the sheet 19 is to beerased (Fig. 3) said sheet is lifted away from the next carbon sheet 20,whereafter the bar 10 is swung forwardly to arrange the rollers l1 and"3 to rest and press on the sheet 20 and to arrange the shield orshields underneath the sheet 19 and on the outside of the sheet 20. Theshield I9 is then placed outside of the shield which has been movedalong the bar to the erasing point and the erasure made while the shieldremains interposed between the erasing area of the sheet l9 and thesheet 20. When the erasure is completed, the bar It is again lifted toits rear inoperative position, the erased sheet l9 replaced on the sheet20, the bar I0 replaced with its rollers on the outside sheet l9 and thetyping continued.

When the erasure is to be made near the bottom of the sheet, the bar I0is lifted as previously described and the platen ll turned to advancethe tops of the sheets out of the typewriter until the bottoms of thesheets are near the back of the platen. The bottom parts of the sheetsare then accessible for the insertion therebetween of the shield whenspread apart. The bar 10 is then lowered on to the platen to hold downthe upwardly extending or rear parts of all the sheets succeeding thesheet to be erased, the bottom or rear part of said sheet to be erasedbeing placed outside of the bar and on the shield carried thereby.Preferably that shield which is convex outwardly when in an up orrearwardly extending position is the one used for bottom erasures at theback of the platen. After the erasure has been made, the bar I0 islifted and the top or front parts of the sheets reinserted thereunderand the bar then lowered in the usual manner on to the platen wherebytyping may proceed.

It will be noted that the shield is always close at hand for easyaccess, that it is inserted between the sheets into its operativeerasing position by much the same movements as are normally used toinsert sheets into the typewriter, that the shield may conveniently beused as a scale for centering typewritten matter on a sheet, that whenmore than one shield is used, the movement of the shields and paperclamping rollers is reduced to a minimum, that when detachable shieldsare used they may quickly and easily be removed from the bar should theyinterfere with any particular operation, that the shields are durable,convenient and efficient while being inexpensive, and that I haveprovided a device well designed for practical use.

While certain specific embodiments of the invention have herein beenshown and described, various obvious changes may be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention defined by the appendedclaims.

I claim:

1. An erasing shield operative only when mounted on the paper-hold-downbar of a typewriter and comprising a convex body portion and a loopportion along the edge of the shield and adapted to receive therein thepaper-hold-down bar to mount the shield slidably and rotatably on thebar for pivotal movement about the bar into an operative position andinto an inoperative position.

2. The shield of claim 1, the loop being resilient whereby the shieldmay be snapped on to the bar and detached therefrom.

3. The shield of claim 2, the loop being open and having an entranceopening of lesser width than the inner diameter of the loop and agraduated measuring scale at that edge of the shield opposite the loop,and arranged lengthwise of the edge, the scale being adapted tocooperate with an indication at the middle of the holddown bar.

4. The combination with the swingable rollercarrying paper-hold-down barof a typewriter, of an erasing shield swingably and slidably mountedalong one edge thereof on the bar, said shield being of substantiallylesser length than that of the bar.

5. The combination of claim 4, the shield being mounted on the bar bymeans of a loop thereon embracing the bar.

6. The combination of claim 5, the loop being open and resilient andhaving an entrance opening of lesser width than the diameter of the bar,whereby the shield may be snapped on the bar and removed therefromrepeatedly.

'7. A combined centering and erasing shield for use with and operativeonly when supported by a part of a typewriter comprising a body portionof sheet material outwardly convex to conform to the convexity of atypewriter platen, a loop portion along an edge of the shield adapted toembrace the paper-hold-down bar of the typewriter, and a, connectingportion integrally joining the loop to the body portion and arrangedsubstantially perpendicularly to the body portion, and a measuring scalealong the opposite edge of the shield, the width of the shield betweensaid edges being less than the length of the shield.

8. The combination of a paper-hold-down bar of a typewriter, means.pivotally supporting the bar, paper-hold-down rollers slidably androtatably mounted on the bar, a roller platen in the path of the bar, anerasing shield having a loop on one edge slidably and rotatably mountedon and embracing the bar, a body portion on the shield swingable towardand from the platen and outwardly convex to fit the platen, the shieldhaving a connecting portion integrally joining the body portion and theloop and arranged sub stantially perpendicular to the body portion, theshield being of lesser length than that of the bar.

9. The combination of claim 8, the loop being of lesser length than thatof the body portion and a second loop on said one edge of the shieldspaced from the first mentioned loop and embracing the bar.

10. The combination of claim 9, the loops being open and resilient andeach terminating in an outwardly flared edge.

11. The combination of claim 8, the loop being permanently secured tothe bar and being sufficiently loose thereon to permit longitudinalmovement of the shield relatively to the bar.

12. The combination with the pivoted holddown bar of a typewriter androllers slidably mounted on the bar, of an erasing shield and means onthe shield slidably and swingably engaging the bar, the length of theshield being a minor fraction of the length of the bar.

13. The combination of claim 12, the shield having a graduated scalethereon, and the bar having a middle indicating mark at the middlethereof.

14. A typewriter-supported combined centering and erasing shieldcomprising a single generally rectangular piece of sheet material havinga relatively narrow and relatively long body portion to form a backingfor a substantial part of a line of typewriting on a paper sheet whensaid part of the line is to be erased, said piece of sheet materialhaving a loop along one edge of the body portion for mounting the shieldslidably and rotatably on a cylindrical paper-hold-down bar of atypewriter, and a, graduated measuring scale adjacent the other edge ofthe shield, the length of the shield being greater than the widththereof between said edges.

SIDNEY FELBER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,018,748 Dyer Feb. 27, 1912 1,689,203 Hokanson Oct. 30, 19281,888,052 Smith Nov. 15, 1932

